In languages such as German and Russian, prefixes play much more important role in word formation compared to English. Let’s have a look at the three Russian verbs: бежать (“to run”), делать “to do, to make” and резать “to cut”, and the derived verbs in the table below:

Prefix

–

бежать

run

делать

do, make

резать

cut

в-

вбежать

run into

вделать

fit, insert

врезать

fit (into a cut-out hole)

в(о)з-

взбежать

run up (the stairs etc.)

возделать

cultivate, grow

взрезать

cut up

вы-

выбежать

run out

выделать

make thoroughly, perfectly

вырезать

cut out

до-

добежать

complete the run

доделать

complete (the task)

дорезать

complete cutting

за-

забежать

run into

заделать

mend, close (a hole etc.)

зарезать

slaughter

на-

набежать

attack

наделать

give, cause (trouble etc.), make (some amount)

нарезать

slice

над-

—

—

надрезать

incise

от-

отбежать

run (not very far) away

отделать

finish, decorate

отрезать

cut off

пере-

перебежать

run across

переделать

redo, rework

перерезать

cut through

по-

побежать

start running

поделать

do for a while

порезать

cut up (e.g. food), slash

под-

подбежать

run up, reach

подделать

counterfeit

подрезать

trim, undercut

при-

прибежать

run to

приделать

attach

прирезать

cut throat, slaughter

про-

пробежать

perform a run

проделать

perform, conjure

прорезать

cut (a hole)

раз-

—

разделать

cut (carcase)

разрезать

cut in two or more parts

с-

сбежать

escape

сделать

make, do, complete

срезать

cut off

у-

убежать

run away

уделать

break, spoil

урезать

reduce, slash

Where Russian uses prefixes, English has to employ different mechanisms: sometimes it is a phrasal verb, e.g. “to cut off”; sometimes completely different word, e.g. “slice”; and sometimes, well, it is a prefix, as in “undercut”.

Of course, not every prefix can be combined with any unprefixed verb to form a new verb in Russian. As you can see from the table, there are no such verbs as надбежать and надделать. Similarly, разбежать does not exist, although there is a reflexive verbразбежаться, meaning either “to accelerate (oneself) by running” or “to scatter (oneselves)”.

Sometimes one can correctly guess the meaning of the prefixed verb. For instance, the prefix в- almost invariably means “into”, while до- confers the sense of completeness to the action. In other cases, it is not as simple, as the famous quote from The Master and Margarita shows:

And then the cat leapt out to the footlights and barked suddenly in a human voice for the whole theatre to hear: “The seance is over! Maestro! Hack us a march!!!” Scarcely aware of his own actions, the crazed conductor waved his baton, and the orchestra did not start to play, nor even strike up, nor even slam into, but, precisely in tune with the cat’s repugnant expression, hacked out an unbelievable, exceptionally shameless march.

(I have to confess now that this quote was the main reason to write today’s post.)

The prefix у- often can be translated as “away”, e.g. убежать “to run away”, увезти “to ride away”, унести “to take away” and so on. This is not the case with уделать (to break, to render unusable, spoil, stain, etc.) and урезать (typically meaning “to slash”, as in урезать бюджет, “to cut the budget”, which has very little to do with Bulgakov’s “strike up”). I have no clue as to how their meanings came about.

I’ll call you Merry and Pippin, if you please – nice names. For I am not going to tell you my name, not yet at any rate.

For one thing it would take a long while: my name is growing all the time, and I’ve lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story. Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to in my language, in the Old Entish as you might say. It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.